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I don't know. Killings seems to imply someone purposefully killed these people. I thought the cause of most of these deaths were either undetermined or natural causes. It just sounds like sensationalism and fear mongering to call them killings at this point. Regardless, it seems too soon to say that. Also, as AntonioR pointed out, United States tourists die every year in the Dominican Republic.

But these all happened after a drinks at the bar. So toxicology reports have to be issued.

Itís possible someone brewed bad alcohol and itís on the market.

For it to get attention like this from the US government shows that suspect something is up.

My appreciation of the country..........wow, I lived in the Carib, the DR is Not respected in the majority of the islands, I now live in Maui, we just shut down sugar cane (even tho no slavery involved nor Needed) just a couple of years ago. Good grief, why the**** do you think we quit buying sugar from that despicable place ????

The rumor behind this guy is that he did something to himself to die like that. Its still a low numbers of any foreign nationalities that got injured or have died in that country. Like I said in another thread (which I think has been moved to The Americas Forum), from January to April of this year that country has received over 2.4 million tourists and they canít find a sizable numbers of Americans even injured during that same time period. There should be thousands and they simply arenít. 1% of 2.4 million is some 24,000 and we are talking of less than 10 people in 5 or 6 months, half of a year. Then we also take other matters into account, such as thatís one of the few islands in the Caribbean that isnít dominated by American tourists because it receives a sizable number from Europe snd Latin America.

Also, Sosuaís expat community isnít very active online. There are so many foreigners living in that town (itís really in the suburban parts of that town) that if most were active they would need many forums and the current forums would be much bigger. Most expats in Sosua are Germans, but many other Europeans and North Americans can be found there. Certain nationalities tend to concentrate in many hotels and residential areas.

Sosua attracts two types of tourists, on one side its a family center, but some parts of town get very seedy at night. Its not really an resort destination like Puerto Plata or Punta Cana is. You would be hard pressed to find a respectable Dominican during the wee hours in that town. Puerto Plata and Cabarete, yes. Sosua is mostly a drive through town for respectable people.

I read Sosua was a city where many Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust lived in.

I read Sosua was a city where many Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust lived in.

I don't know if this city still has many Jews.

Its more of a town than an actual city. Now that you mention it, there’s only one city on the whole north coast and that is Puerto Plata. Its actually close to Sosua.

There isn’t many Jews in that town because most of the 6,000 Europeans that arrived from the 1930s to the 1960s left the country when it fell into a civil war in the 60s (most were Spanish getting away from Franco in Spain. Mexico City Andrťs GarcŪa was born in Santo Domingo but his parents were both Spaniards getting away from Franco, to give one example.) Sosua only got a handful of people. Most headed for the US or major countries in Latin America. The town does have a large presence of expats that live there and a pretty beach, but the town is avoided in the evenings by respectable Dominicans. There is also a new beach there that formed by itself about 10 years ago. No one knows where that beach came from, but it formed after a storm and has been there ever since. There is a synagogue there that documents the arrival of the Jews and the building itself is historic. There is also a small park commemorating those people. That town is very new though, especially compare to Puerto Plata which is one of the first cities founded by Europeans on this side of the Atlantic and still has active the coat of arms given to that city in the early 1500 by the King and Queen of Spain (King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, both initials is on the coat of arm but the Spaniards also spelled Isabella with a Y.) You can see it in many parts of the city and its above the City Hall looking towards the main park (its more like a plaza) in the old center of town (next to San Felipe Cathedral.)

One of the leading characters of Frasier (the US tv sitcom, either him or his father) was saved by that town and lived there when he was a kid.

They created a few companies, but the one that grew the most was Producto Sosua. They produce mostly cheeses and processed meat products. The Jews introduced the salami there, which quickly became a staple of breakfast and dinner in many homes. A few years ago Productos Sosua was sold to a Mexican company for I think $300 million from its Jews founders and owners.

My appreciation of the country..........wow, I lived in the Carib, the DR is Not respected in the majority of the islands, I now live in Maui, we just shut down sugar cane (even tho no slavery involved nor Needed) just a couple of years ago. Good grief, why the**** do you think we quit buying sugar from that despicable place ????

I read Sosua was a city where many Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust lived in.

I don't know if this city still has many Jews.

These days, Sosua is mostly known as a sex-tourist destination...Dominicans from all over the country go there to 'ply the trade', and foreigners that are looking for that in the DR, think of Sosua as ground zero for it as well.

That being said, I've heard tons of great things about the North Coast; so I'm sure many are just going there on holidays as well, or just the beach, or whatever whatever. But, in general, if a tourist wants to meet Dominican women...Sosua is the place.

That being said, I think only Death #8 was in Sosua, and that particular American was with friends/family and died in the middle of the day after going up from the pool.

Most of the resort deaths were located in Punta Cana....I think, and someone correct me I'm wrong, but this Death #8 is the only one that occurred in Sosua.

These days, Sosua is mostly known as a sex-tourist destination...Dominicans from all over the country go there to 'ply the trade', and foreigners that are looking for that in the DR, think of Sosua as ground zero for it as well.

That being said, I've heard tons of great things about the North Coast; so I'm sure many are just going there on holidays as well, or just the beach, or whatever whatever. But, in general, if a tourist wants to meet Dominican women...Sosua is the place.

That being said, I think only Death #8 was in Sosua, and that particular American was with friends/family and died in the middle of the day after going up from the pool.

Most of the resort deaths were located in Punta Cana....I think, and someone correct me I'm wrong, but this Death #8 is the only one that occurred in Sosua.

Most hotel rooms are found in Puerto Plata, especially in Playa Dorada where there are some 15 resorts grouped together around a golf course and some other stuff. A little less than 500,000 people passed through the Puerto Plata airport or 400,000 if we count foreign people.

There was also near equal number of man and woman through this airport (woman were slightly ahead.) Also, some people use the Santiago airport to get to the north coast, but there its mostly Dominicans. Some 200,000 from the US people passed through there last year with near equal numbers between both sexes, but knowing that airport most were probably Dominicans that either were born in the US or naturalized. In fact, most people there didn’t even stay in hotels, which is expected.

While tourism is the major industry in that town, it doesn’t appear to be the main destination on the north coast, nor are men the majority or the largest part of the tourists there. The area devoted to sex tourism also seems quite small to account for most visitors. As can be seen with the simple eye along that coast, most tourists are couples and families.

There is another theory about the reason for this sudden bad press for DR.

the rumors are that Fox News and The NY post (the outlets giving the more intense coverage to this news) are doing so intentionally, misrepresenting and calling it "suspicious".
why ?

here is the story.

Trump wants to built a group of 9 towers in punta cana, 25 floors each, but the punta cana
hotels owners have blocked his project. ( the punta cana hotels owners have a very long relationship with the Clintons and the democratic party.)

the Dominican government has done everything in their power to block trumps project.
and this is a form of payback.

Trump is using rupert murdoch to run a campaign against DR with the purpose of bullying them into allowing his project.
The punta cana owners claim the projects violates the zoning and development regulations (which is true) but thats something that can be worked out, the real reason seems to be political.

just google "trump punta cana projects" specially those from 2018, this situation has been cooking in the background for quite a while.

people even claim that the fact the FBI is dragging its feet in releasing the toxicology report is by trumps orders.

Could be, but I think its just a rumor. The construction law to build in the Punta Cana area was changed a few months ago to allow high rises away from the beach in Cap Cana and in the Macao areas.

Also, many high ranking people in the US political, business, and even big people in the media have ties to the Dominican upper class. Elizabeth Taylor (I know she died a few years ago) had some Dominican friends in the DR. She was seen several times in the country and in yachts off shore where her Dominican friends would spend a day with her. A few years before she died she stayed for a few days at the Casa Colonial Hotel in Puerto Plata after visiting some of her Dominican friends and heading back to the USA.

Remember that many high ranking Dominicans made it to the top ring of US society, such as ”scar de la Renta. He used to designed dresses for many US First Ladies. The Clintons spend every Christmas at the Puntacana Resort & Club. Henry Kissinger and Mikhail Karyshnikov each owns a house nearby. The Spanish monarchs are close friends of many high raking people in the DR and are seen in the country quite frequently.

Trump himself and his offspring has several Dominican friends in high ranking places. His daughter Ivanka Trump was with her husband a few months ago. Her brother Eric was also seen there a few months ago teaming up with Abraham Hazoury.

The list is quite long. Everyday people don’t know this, but it’s a reality.

Last edited by AntonioR; 06-21-2019 at 11:23 AM..

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